Ericson Harrell, 39, was wearing a mask, a black cape, and
holding an inverted American flag when police approached him in
Plantation, Florida. Harrell told officers he was “protesting
Obamacare” but the police report notes “he refused each
time” when he “was asked several times to remove his mask
and produce some form of identification or tell us his name”
and taken into custody.

The mask is the same one popularized in the film “V for Vendetta”
and then by the activist hacking collective known as Anonymous.

The police report does not mention whether other protesters were
at the scene or if Harrell was holding his own individual rally.
It does say Harrell was not willing to tell police who he was,
“stating his anonymity was his cause, thus the mask…He stated
the mask was used by movement groups around the world for
protests.”

He only told responding officers “I’m a cop, I’m a cop”
and was apprehended when one policeman found a .40 caliber pistol
in his waistband.

Harrell, who was charged with obstruction of justice and with
wearing a hood or mask on the street, was given a notice to
appear in court and not jailed.

The statute Harrell was charged under was originally signed into
law in an attempt to criminalize the Ku Klux Klan without
violating the white supremacist group’s right to free assembly or
free speech.

Chapter 876 Section 12 of Title XLVI under Florida law classifies
“wearing mask hood, or other device on public way” as a
crime. Stating in full: “no person or persons over 16 years of
age shall, while wearing any mask hood, or device whereby any
portion of the face is so hidden, concealed, or covered as to
conceal the identity of the wearer, enter upon, or be or appear
upon any lane, walk, alley, street, road, highway, or other
public way in this state.”

Harrell’s supervisor at the North Miami Beach police told the
Miami Sun-Sentinel that the officer is a 15-year veteran of the
force and has been placed on paid administrative leave pending
the outcome of the investigation.